


Come Back to Me

by iam93percentstardust



Series: Tumblr Prompts [17]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Branching timeline, Canon Compliant, Fix-It, Gen, M/M, Past Character Death, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25719565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iam93percentstardust/pseuds/iam93percentstardust
Summary: It's not Peggy Steve thinks about staying for, it's Tony but only for a moment - and only for a warning.
Relationships: Future Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - Relationship, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Series: Tumblr Prompts [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817254
Comments: 11
Kudos: 189





	Come Back to Me

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Post-endgame fix-it where steve travels back in time to cw but they put steve in a cell just like 616 and steve just tells tony everything and holds him???
> 
> Never really got to the holding part but hopefully still good?

He knows the minute he walks into the cell—before, even—that, no matter what Ross says, this isn’t his Steve Rogers.

Oh it’s _a_ Steve Rogers, for sure, but it isn’t his. The hair isn’t the same, the eyes a little bit older—and that’s something that Tony can tell just from a picture on a StarkPad so he doesn’t know how Ross couldn’t tell that from up close. Whether it’s an alternate timeline, parallel universe, or one of the many types of shapeshifting aliens Thor’s talked about, this Steve Rogers is different.

He nods his thanks at the guard who lets him in the cell and studies Steve for a moment. Steve had to have heard him come in, that super hearing must have heard his footsteps from down the hall, but he doesn’t look up, allowing him the illusion of privacy. He lets his gaze drift over the different hairstyle, the dark washed jeans that his Steve wouldn’t have been caught dead in, the humbled posture.

Definitely not his Steve. That last one clinches it. His Steve is still making videos (from Wakanda, though Tony will never admit that he knows that) about how he’d done what he thought was right and posting them to Youtube.

“So where are you from?” he asks.

Steve’s head snaps up. “ _Tony_ ,” he gasps hoarsely, tears quickly filling his eyes.

“Whoa, hey,” Tony says, dropping to his knees in front of Steve. “What’s going on here, big guy?”

“You shouldn’t be on your knees for me.”

And that—that’s so far from what Tony expected he would say that he rocks back on his heels in shock. He recovers quickly enough though and he quirks a perfected press smile. “I could sit next to you if you budged over a little.”

To his surprise, Steve immediately moves, another sign yet again that this isn’t his Steve. Slowly, Tony rises enough so that he can shift to the bench, where he sits with his thigh pressed against Steve’s because it’s too small to sit apart. Steve stares down at where they’re connected like he can’t bear to tear his eyes away.

“So,” Tony begins eventually. “Timeline or universe?”

“Timeline,” Steve says quietly. “Future. Every time we go back, we create a branching timeline. Or that’s what you thought.”

“I’m in your timeline?” Tony asks. He’d thought, given Steve’s reaction to him, that he didn’t exist or—Steve’s eyes go sad and wet again and this time, Tony pieces it together. “I died in your timeline.”

Steve nods. “Saving the universe.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound like me,” he quips, harkening back to their first meeting. He nudges Steve’s shoulder teasingly, expecting him to play along but that’s not what he does it all.

Instead he says earnestly, sincerely as only Steve Rogers can, “Yes, it does.”

And that just about floors him.

He’d never known that Steve thought _that_ about him. Honestly, he’d kind of always thought that Steve just tolerated him. The Avengers needed a flier and since Thor was only on world half the time, they were stuck with Tony. He scrambles for something to say and lands on, “Why are you here?”

Steve raises one shoulder in a little shrug. “Can’t say too much without giving away the whole future but…you were right. Nat was right. Staying together was more important.”

“Why?”

“Because there are worse things coming.”

Tony stares at him for a long time, trying to figure out what could have happened that was so bad Steve came back in time to warn him. “Steve—” he starts to say and then stops because he doesn’t quite know where else to go from there.

“I lost you,” Steve whispers brokenly. “You and Nat and Viz and—” He stops too and Tony wonders who else might have died that Steve doesn’t feel he can tell him about.

“Steve, what are you doing here?”

Steve frowns. “I told you, I came to warn—”

“No, _here,_ in this cell. You could have warned me without getting arrested, without anyone even noticing that you’re here.”

He straightens his shoulders, squaring them the way he does when he’s preparing for a fight. Now all he needs is the tensed jaw—ah, there it is. “I want to sign the Accords.”

Well, today’s just a day for surprises, isn’t it?

“You what?”

“To sign the Accords.”

“You have a timeline. One that you belong to. Don’t you think you should be there instead?”

“Bruce told me I had five seconds in that timeline, five seconds to do what I needed to do.”

“And you’re wasting them on telling me that you want to sign the Accords?” Tony asks flatly. He doesn’t understand. What could Steve possibly be getting out of this? Steve won’t be able to take his real name when he signs; there’s already a Steve Rogers in this timeline.

“I’m _spending_ them telling you goodbye and hopefully trying to make your future better than mine,” Steve says. He sounds annoyed. Good. Maybe he’ll be more honest with him now.

“And how does you signing the Accords help with that?”

“Because, _maybe_ , if your Steve sees me signing the Accords, he’ll decide to as well and your team will be together again so that you can fight what’s coming. Trust me, Tony, you’ll need everyone.”

“…that’s very convoluted.”

Steve tips his head back against the wall and chuckles. “Yeah, it didn’t sound too great in my head either. I’m usually better at these kinds of speeches or so I’ve been told. Look, it’s 2017, right? The new versions of the Accords are getting ready to go into place, you’re getting ready to launch your plan with Ross—”

“—Careful, he might hear you—”

“—As though you would have come in here without scrambling the cameras,” Steve points out fondly. His face somehow gets…quieter, almost. More peaceful. “I wanted to sign after I saw the new Accords.”

“You did?” Tony asks, surprised. “You do? You—fuck.”

“Yeah, it still confuses me too. I did. But I wouldn’t let go of my pride. I spent another year in hiding and that’s when everything went wrong.”

“It’s 2018 where you came from?” He shakes his head, trying to clear it. “ _When_ you came from?”

He smiles ruefully. “It’s 2023.”

Tony’s mouth forms a perfect o. That’s…that’s something. What went so badly wrong in 2018 that they’re still trying to clean it up in 2023?

“Point is,” Steve says gently, placing his hand over Tony’s. “I’d come back if you called. I always told myself that.”

“Why should I have to be the one to do it?” Tony asks sullenly.

“Because you know I won’t,” Steve replies.

He laughs because it’s true and he never thought he would meet a Steve Rogers who would admit that and because he’s a little overwhelmed. Somewhere out there, in another timeline, there’s a Tony who died because things went so badly wrong that that was the only way to save the universe. If that’s not overwhelming, then he doesn’t know what is.

He’s not entirely sure how Steve manages to do it, how he manages to slip his hand into Tony’s pocket and withdraw with the phone without him noticing, but he does. He holds it out and says, “I know you keep it fully charged all the time. I did too. Call him, Tony.”

Tony stares at the phone for a long time before he finally flips it open and dials the only number saved. It rings once—

Twice—

Tony glances to the side to tell Steve that he doesn’t think his Steve is going to pick up but somehow, Steve’s vanished, leaving him alone in the cell—

Three times—

A click—

And then a desperate, _hopeful,_ “Tony?”


End file.
